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Tulla Mhor - Santa Marta to San Blas Day 12-14



We had a bouncy, frisky, boisterous, hairy, scary, exhilarating (?!) sail down to San Blas Islands from Santa Marta. After prising ourselves off the pontoon we started with an optimistic single reef in the main sail. This was soon increased to 3 reefs as we stormed away from the Columbian coast towards Panama. The seas were large with 4m waves and confused, hitting us from all directions. Shamal, a much larger and heavier boat then us, was just behind us, was tossed about like flotsam; Tulla Mhor could only have been worse. 

Anne was sick with food poisoning and had to go to bed, Dugald was also sick with probably the same. As night fell we took away the gib and sailed with a fully reeled main. Our auto helm held up and kept us on a steady course although there was some extreme veering when hit by a large wave. No one really slept although we could lie down to rest. Charles had the worst watch from 10.00pm to 1.00am with sustained winds of 35knots and 5m waves. By the time it was my watch the wind had moderated to 30-34 knots. Tulla was sailing along at around 10knots with a top speed of over 15. We felt we were on the edge all night.

As the next day progressed and we sailed further west the wind and sea slowly moderated. Anne and Dugald had not fully recovered and we just enjoyed sailing calmly keeping our 3 reefs in while we all had a rest. Eventually we did increase our sail but did not feel in any rush as we did not want to cross the finish line during the night. The San Blas islands are made up of small islands with multiple coral reefs. The area was surveyed poorly a long time ago, charts are poor so the boat's chart plotter is not reliable to give an accurate position. It is not safe to enter during the night and a boat should wait for good light with a high sun enabling the reefs and shallow water to be identified.

We crossed the finish line in calm weather in the morning and made our way to the Eastern Holandes Cays. After tricky navigation with myself standing at the bow looking out for reefs we anchored behind an island called Banedup. It was very beautiful with white coral sand, turquoise sea and green palm trees waving in the breeze. We all agreed that the first night was the worst sailing we had ever had but were pleased to have come thru relaxing off a picture postcard island.  





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